Description
The Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) are the great Baroque staircase linking Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti, on the Pincian Hill, in Rome. They have 136 steps, ramps that open and close and garden terraces: a stage set made to be climbed slowly.
The architect is the Roman Francesco De Sanctis, who conceived it as an open-air theater, all projections, recesses and terraces. His design joins a steep, irregular slope into a harmonious whole. It was inaugurated for the Jubilee of 1725.
The finest part is the design of pincer-shaped ramps, with walls alternating concave and convex curves. The idea came from an old project attributed to Bernini's workshop. The terraces halfway up serve as pauses, with flower beds and a view over the city's rooftops.
In spring the steps fill with azaleas, and at the top, in front of the church, stands the Sallustian obelisk. From up there you look over the whole of Piazza di Spagna, with the Barcaccia in the middle.
It took more than a century and a half to build. The idea of a staircase between the square and the church was already there in 1559, but the building site opened only in the 1700s. The cause was a quarrel: the church belonged to the French, and the land was disputed with the Papal States.
In 1660 the Frenchman Étienne Gueffier left the money for the stairs and projects rained down, but the dispute over who was in charge up there blocked everything. In 1717 Clement XI announced a competition, and the choice fell on De Sanctis.
The peace between the two sides can still be read on the boundary stones at the base of the stairs: the eagles of Innocent XIII, of the Conti family, stand beside the fleurs-de-lis of France.
The steps were fully restored in 1995 and again in 2015-2016, with the support of the fashion house Bulgari.
The architect is the Roman Francesco De Sanctis, who conceived it as an open-air theater, all projections, recesses and terraces. His design joins a steep, irregular slope into a harmonious whole. It was inaugurated for the Jubilee of 1725.
The finest part is the design of pincer-shaped ramps, with walls alternating concave and convex curves. The idea came from an old project attributed to Bernini's workshop. The terraces halfway up serve as pauses, with flower beds and a view over the city's rooftops.
In spring the steps fill with azaleas, and at the top, in front of the church, stands the Sallustian obelisk. From up there you look over the whole of Piazza di Spagna, with the Barcaccia in the middle.
It took more than a century and a half to build. The idea of a staircase between the square and the church was already there in 1559, but the building site opened only in the 1700s. The cause was a quarrel: the church belonged to the French, and the land was disputed with the Papal States.
In 1660 the Frenchman Étienne Gueffier left the money for the stairs and projects rained down, but the dispute over who was in charge up there blocked everything. In 1717 Clement XI announced a competition, and the choice fell on De Sanctis.
The peace between the two sides can still be read on the boundary stones at the base of the stairs: the eagles of Innocent XIII, of the Conti family, stand beside the fleurs-de-lis of France.
The steps were fully restored in 1995 and again in 2015-2016, with the support of the fashion house Bulgari.